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SSD Upgrade Questions

W

warehouse40

macrumors member
Original poster
Dec 22, 2011
35
3
I want to upgrade to a SSD and put my current HDD in the Optical bay with a data doubler. I have a few questions that I haven't been able to find answers to while searching. If I missed them somewhere, please feel free to point me to the correct threads.

Here's what I currently have: Early 2011 15" Macbook Pro, 2GHz Intel Core i7, 8GB Ram, 500GB 7200rpm HDD, and AMD Radeon HD 6490M 256 MB. I mostly edit photos using Lightroom and occasionally dabble in Illustrator and Dreamweaver along with other general things (Word, Excel, etc.)

Questions:

1. I think I'm going to go with the 120GB 6G SSD from OWC, they also include the data doubler and the tools needed for the procedure. Is anyone currently using this drive and have any opinions on it?

2. My 500GB HDD has about 415GB used. It doesn't seem feasible to be able to do a straight clone. (Correct me if I'm wrong).

What will be the best way to transfer the OS, User and system folders over the SSD? I use Time Machine and am running 10.8.2.

3. I create a new Lightroom library for every project I do. I was thinking that I would keep the current library I'm editing on the SSD and then transfer it to the HDD when I'm done. Will I notice an increase in performance by doing this vs leaving the photos on the HDD while editing them? (This seems like a dumb question to me but I'm not finding a definitive answer)

4. I noticed that OWC has 16Gb of RAM for $109.99. Would this be a worth while upgrade on top of the SSD? Or should I do the SSD upgrade first and see if it solves the "slowness" that I sometimes experience. (eg. spinning wheel when saving certain files or loading them, applications opening, closing, etc.)

Sorry for the long post and I appreciate any help.
 
...

first of all don't buy an SSD from OWC or any sandforce based SSD for that matter. Also go into activity monitor and look to see if there is anything beside the heading "page outs". If there isn't then that means that you aren't even using more than 8gb of ram which means upgrading the ram will be useless. I would say that unless you are running multiple virtual machines simultaneously you currently would not likely benefit from upgrading to more ram
 
newdeal said:
see if there is anything beside the heading "page outs". If there isn't then that means that you aren't even using more than 8gb of ram which means upgrading the ram will be useless.
Click to expand...

It says 1.08GB.

newdeal said:
first of all don't buy an SSD from OWC or any sandforce based SSD for that matter
Click to expand...

Would you care to elaborate as to why and make a suggestion of which type of SSD I should be looking for?

Thanks.
 
...

that is a lot of page outs, you may benefit from more ram or just from closing some programs you dont need actively running. As for OWC (or sandforce based SSDs in general) they are horrible in terms of reliability and bugginess and they really arent cheaper than good SSDs like the Crucial M4 or Samsung 830
 
Thanks.

I will look at those two drives. What about the OWC Data doubler optical bay bracket? Would there be a better bracket or would that be sufficient?
 
newdeal said:
that is a lot of page outs, you may benefit from more ram or just from closing some programs you dont need actively running. As for OWC (or sandforce based SSDs in general) they are horrible in terms of reliability and bugginess and they really arent cheaper than good SSDs like the Crucial M4 or Samsung 830
Click to expand...

Remember, the comment about OWC is just one guys opinion. I like OWC (another one guys opinion), and ordered 16G Ram. Yep, a little more expensive, but with deals,it was actually cheaper than Crucial.

Also, RAM is cheap, so why not max out!
 
...

OWC is great just not for SSDs. I have had two, one crapped out after a week and the other 3 weeks. Then I got my money back. Multiple people have bad comments about sand force controlled ssds just google it
 
Thanks for the advice. I ended up getting the Samsung 830 128GB for $89.99 on Amazon.

My other question is, what is the best way to transfer just the OS, user and system folders to my new SSD?
 
warehouse40 said:
And I can just transfer those specific files? I've used Time Machine to install a new drive before but only an exact copy, never just the OS and supporting files.
Click to expand...

Maybe I'm confused. Migration assistant may allow you to select specific files.
 
warehouse40 said:
And I can just transfer those specific files? I've used Time Machine to install a new drive before but only an exact copy, never just the OS and supporting files.
Click to expand...

This is what i did:

I only want the OSX and application to be in the SSD so i transfer all the files i want to put in the 500GB into a external HDD and delete it in the 500GB HDD. Put the SSD into an enclosure and use CCC to clone it. Once everything is done, copy all the files from the external HDD back to the 500GB HDD.
 
clyde2801 said:
Unless you catch a daily deal at newegg or amazon, the 512 gb M4 generally sells for $399, and the Sammy for a hundred bucks more.
Click to expand...

That's what I thought. Seems pretty steep considering you can get 2x256GB M4s or 830s for $300-340 depending on where and when you buy.
 
gngan said:
This is what i did:

I only want the OSX and application to be in the SSD so i transfer all the files i want to put in the 500GB into a external HDD and delete it in the 500GB HDD. Put the SSD into an enclosure and use CCC to clone it. Once everything is done, copy all the files from the external HDD back to the 500GB HDD.
Click to expand...

Okay. That might be an option especially since I use Time Machine.

I'm thinking I'm going to just do a fresh install of Mountain Lion on the SSD and reinstall the programs that I really use.
 
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